


Midnight, The Stars and You

by ThCllslNrd



Category: Doctor Sleep (2019), The Shining (1980)
Genre: Abra and Uncle Danny still talk a lot, Abra has questions, Comfort, Danny gives some back story (basically recaps the shining from his pov), Doc Torrance, Family Feels, Found Family, Overlook Hotel, even after the end of Doctor Sleep ofc, uncle danny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25136746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThCllslNrd/pseuds/ThCllslNrd
Summary: Abra’s been doing okay after the night at The Overlook hotel with Rose and her Uncle Dan, but she still has some questions after she keeps hearing a certain song.
Relationships: Abra Stone & Dan "Danny" Torrance
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Midnight, The Stars and You

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I shouldn't need to say it, considering this movie came out like 7/8+ years ago, but spoilers for all of Doctor Sleep! (and The Shining, but...that movie is 40 years old so I REALLY shouldn't need to tag that)  
> Title from the song Midnight, The Stars and You by Al Bowlly and Ray Noble & His Orchestra  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmnhssxSoLo

Sometimes Abra could still hear the music. 

See the flames from The Overlook, the burning wood collapsing over the piles of snow surrounding the hotel.

The smell of ash _still_ stung in her nose, as if she was stuck standing there and watching it _burn_ forever on a _loop_. The ash in her hair, the sirens from police cars starting to ring louder and _louder_ as she just _watched_.

What else was she supposed to do?

She _knew_ it was for the better of everyone. What happened to Rose, the hotel...to her Uncle Dan. But that doesn’t mean it _still_ didn’t keep her up at night, plague her dreams day and night, sometimes _worse_ than others. 

Sometimes she had days where it was _all_ she could think about. It wasn’t scary anymore, not after knowing what good it did to let that hotel _fall_ , to let the spirits in the hotel _eat_ Rose _alive_ , to get Uncle Dan back to his mother after _all_ those years of waiting and _waiting_.

But she never remembered _hearing_ the song when it all went down.

Sometimes it played when she wasn’t thinking, doing her homework or washing the dishes after dinner, and she would catch herself _eventually_.

_Midnight, with the stars and you… Midnight and a Rendez-vous_

She never _heard_ it that night. Not when Rose was in her mind, not when they were _both_ in Uncle Dan’s mind, not even in room 237. She assumed it had something to do with all that though, something she didn’t know everything about. 

She first heard it trapping the old lady in the bathtub of her own home, like an echo of her spirit. 

She locked the old woman up in a _chest_ , eventually creating a _trail_ of chests, like in the maze from Uncle Dan’s mind. It was the only way she knew how to keep _control_ of all the Overlook spirits that followed her, but the song came with _all of them_ , not only from the woman in 237. The bartender, the old caretaker from the 1920s, the twins.

There was a missing puzzle piece to all of this somewhere that made everything make sense in the end.

So Abra did the only thing she knew she _could_ do after months of listening and questioning.

_“Uncle Dan? ...Are you awake?”_ The younger girl sat at the foot of her bed, eyes closed, legs crossed, shining as _loud_ as she could.

From what she understood, it took _no effort_ for her to be heard, the way she Shined.

“I’m always awake for you, Abs.” She opened her eyes, hearing his _voice_ , not his _Shine_. 

There he was, standing by her window. It’s where he always showed. He did like to move around though, sit on the floor, sit on the bed next to her when she couldn’t sleep, brain too busy thinking about Overlook, the _Knots_.

It helped to have someone who _understood_ what happened by her side, and he knew how helpful it would’ve been if he had someone like himself at Abra’s age.

“Hey, Uncle Dan. How have you been doing?”

“I’m doing pretty good, actually. How about you? Usually, I come to _you_ first, not that I don’t mind seeing my favorite niece a little extra.”

“I’m doing...good, all things considered.” Abra smiled warmly, switching the position of her legs and getting comfortable. 

She wasn’t sure how to ask all this, if it was a sensitive topic for Uncle Dan, or if he even had the answers she was looking for, but there couldn’t be any harm in asking. It wasn’t like her _mom_ had any answers for her, or she had any _other_ Shiners to go to.

“I do have a question, though. I’ve been noticing something about the spirits, just the Overlook spirits, as I’ve been retrapping them.”

_Your eyes held a message tender, saying "I surrender all my love to you"_

Her Uncle Dan joined her now, sitting on the corner of her bed. He _knew_ there were still some things she didn’t know, didn’t have time to learn or understand before he dragged her and Rose in with him.

“What’s going on, Abs?”

She was quiet for a moment, looking at the wall in front of her, remembering the way they used to talk back and forth before they _actually_ met, _before_ the Knots, _before_ the Overlook.

“Do you, or... _did_ you ever hear this _song_? It’s like...like this old jass song, and every time one of the spirits follows me or gets close, I hear it. I don’t know why its there or what it means, but sometimes I feel like it’s on a constant loop. I always hear it from the spirits, but sometimes I think of it on my _own_ too, and it’s this continuous background noise I have playing in my head.”

Uncle Dan _immediately_ knew what his niece was talking about when she brought it up. The song that he linked to all the things he used to see when he was just a kid when his dad was spiraling at the Overlook when he started _seeing_ and _hearing_ more than usual.

“...Yeah, I know the song.”

_Midnight brought us sweet romance… I know all my whole life through_

He started humming quietly, not remembering the words well enough, but the music a steady lullaby in his head.

Abra nodded upon hearing her uncle repeat the music back to her. 

“Where does it come from? It’s the hotel, isn’t it?”

Now her Uncle Dan nodded, following with an explanation. He’d need to go slow, get this all out properly in a way she’d understand. She was a big girl though, it wasn’t going to be a hard task. 

“Yeah, it is,” He sighed quietly before starting from the beginning. “Back when I was a little kid, when my dad took the job as caretaker of the Overlook, is when I found out more about my Shine. I had no idea _what_ it was or _why_ I had it. I actually thought it was some sort of imaginary friend because that’s what my mom, Wendy, called it. I called it Tony and _everything_.

“But on our first day at the hotel, I met an older man who worked as head of the kitchen, Dick Hollarann. He knew as _soon_ as I got there that I had a Shine, and he sat me down and helped it make sense to me. I still didn’t really get it because I was young and didn’t understand how something like that could be _real_ , but looking back now it makes a lot of sense. He explained how we see things more than the average person, the way we get _visions_ and can _predict_ things, or can see things that happened a long time ago, and how everyone’s Shine is different. But...he also _warned_ me.

“He told me about the Overlook, about how it had a ‘ _certain Shine_ ’. I didn’t understand what he meant until about a month and a half down the road. My father, Jack, was a writer, he started to... _lose_ himself a little more every day. Would lash out at my mother, grow violent, wouldn’t sleep, wouldn’t make a lot of sense when he spoke about certain things. Do you remember that night when the hotel possessed me? When I wasn’t _me_?”

Abra just nodded, listening to her uncle tell of his past. 

“I think it was the hotel _slowly_ consuming him. It never felt like him after so long, after I had to escape through the hotel window and run away from him. My mother and I eventually escaped, and my father died out there in the cold. I didn’t know for _sure_ until I came back that night, but I always felt that he become the spirit of the hotel. Like everyone else who died from madness there. Dick actually died in the hotel too. I learned that a few weeks later when he came to visit me like I do with you, but he was never at the hotel’s mercy anyway.

“I never actually heard the song until sometime after too, when I started locking the spirits up myself, but I think it’s the hotel. There was a big ballroom with a bar that I used to play in, had plenty of room for me to ride around on my little tricycle, so maybe something happened there. Maybe that’s where it all started, maybe that’s where it comes from, or that’s where the madness started from, but I don’t know for certain. I’m okay with not knowing for sure now, but I know that’s where it stems from. It’s all _connected_ to the hotel.”

That...that made sense to Abra. The Overlook had always been _bad_ news, years and _years_ before her Uncle Dan took her there and burned it down, but now that the spirits where left for her, it was going to _always_ be apart of her.

“How long did you have to deal with the spirits? Have to listen to the song?”

_I'll be remembering you, whatever else I do_

Her Uncle Dan placed a hand on her back, smiling. “I was much younger than you, so it took me a few years to get everything locked up, but we both know how _strong_ you are, Abs. It’ll take you _no_ time at all to trap the Overlook guests and any other harmful spirits that come your way. The music, however...it stuck with me for a _very_ long time. The hotel’s gone now, so maybe it won’t stay as long for you, but it took me a long time before I could ever stop listening to it. It’s a piece of you Abra, but I promise it can do _no harm_ to you.”

Abra smiled at her uncle, nodding along slowly again. She had no idea how much had happened before she got there with Uncle Dan and Rose, but it made all the more sense. Walking down the halls and around the lobby of the hotel was _enough_ of a scare. The old caretaker, the blood pouring out of the elevators. She couldn’t say that she’s ever seen Jack Torrence though, but if he’s apart of the Overlook, his time _will_ come one day.

Besides, the song never did sound _so_ bad anyway.

“Thanks, Uncle Dan. Everything makes a little more sense now.”

“No problem, kiddo. You deserve to know about it, the way you’re picking up after everything now. I can only do so much here, but I never mind a little talking.”

“I don’t mind a little cleaning up, either.” Abra smiled, standing up after her uncle did. It was late, her open windows letting starlight fall in through the room. Danny did notice the alarm clock on her nightstand, glowing a bright red 10:47 pm. 

“If you’ve got any other questions or just wanna talk, you can _always_ call, but I think we should call it for tonight. Six o’clock rolls around early.”

Abra just laughed at her Uncle Dan before taking a few steps forward, leaning up and wrapping him in a hug.

“...I love you, Uncle Dan.” Her voice was a bit muffled, her face pressed against his chest in the embrace, but the words were unmistakable.

Danny smiled to himself, placing a hand on her back and hugging her in return. 

“I love you too, Abra.”

Eventually Abra pulled away from her uncle, climbing into bed and turning off the lamp on her nightstand. The man waited for his niece to bury herself under the covers and get comfortable, knowing she’d need the sleep for school tomorrow. He walked back to the window and leaned against the wall, smiling back at his niece.

_Midnight, with the stars and you…_

“Shine on, Abra Stone… Shine on.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Here are other places to find me for different content!  
> Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter: @ ThCllslNrd


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